Without the native app, YouTube would be pretty much useless to iPhone and iPad owners, and that'd be a damn shame. A damn shame, and also a gaping hole in the iOS repertoire. But fortunately, the built-in YouTube app does its job very nicely.
Having YouTube sitting, un-removeable, on your iPhone takes some of the urgency out of finding other, perhaps superior video streaming apps, though. And there are plenty of them out there offering content and functions that can't be found in the native application.
So we thought it was time to cast a critical eye over three of the top free streaming and social video apps available for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
Socialcam Video Camera
(iTunes Link [1] )Â
Although YouTube has always been intended as ‘the people's channel,' few of us upload anything like the number of videos we actually watch. The Socialcam Video Camera is aiming to correct that balance by encouraging us to put our iPhone videos online and sharing them with others in our personal network, or the whole world.
Admittedly this is a feature that's replicated by the likes of Facebook and Twitter (and, yes, YouTube), but it has to be said that few of them, if any, accomplish the video sharing task as well as Socialcam.
In many respects it's simply down to the great user interface, which makes it a doddle to upload (even in the background) and presents the Socialcam world to you in a very neat and friendly fashion. It also includes filters, as all camera-equipped apps seem required to do these days, making it something of an Instagram for moving pictures.
Vimeo
(iTunes Link [2] )Â
Vimeo has long been a direct competitor for YouTube within your web browser, with some traction but not quite posing any real danger to the streaming king, but if you do prefer its clean approach to online viewing you should check out its free, official iOS app.
As with other, similar apps you can upload, share and watch videos through the Vimeo network, but the app has one rather nice feature that stands out above the others. This one lets you edit your iPhone videos before uploading them, so you can trim some of the inevitable digital fat to cut down upload times, make your videos more watchable and even splice together several recordings into one online vid.
The toolset provided by this app shows what YouTube is lacking, even if the network as a whole doesn't pack quite as much punch.
TED
(iTunes Link [3] )Â
If it's a viewing experience you're looking for, which isn't quite sated by sneezing pandas or morons on webcams, TED could well be the app for you.
TED is one of the few places on the internet where intelligent content takes precedence over everything else. Talks are given by industry experts, education gurus, radical thinkers and anyone else with something interesting to say. And it's amazing just what these guys, along with TED, can make interesting.
The philosophy behind the seminars hosted by TED is that everything must be fascinating and at the cutting edge of its area of expertise, but it must also be accessible to the world. The result is a library of innovative, enthralling videos you can watch on your iPhone, which makes it feel like Johnny Ball is sitting on your right, and Peter Ustinov on your left.
It's the video equivalent of reading, and we love it.
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Links
- ^ iTunes Link (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ iTunes Link (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ iTunes Link (itunes.apple.com)
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